Thai Labour Law relating to resignation and pro rata annual leave

[cam501]

Seeking advice on the following issue.

 

I am an Australian national working for a corporate company in Thailand. I have a four month probation period in my role. I resigned around the 3 month mark giving 30 days notice as per my contract. My HR department estimates I will have accrued 7 days annual leave. BUT they say they cannot pay me out for it, nor can these 7 days be taken as leave before I resign. 

 

They are claiming that under "Thai labour law" an employee is not entitled to take annual leave until they have completed 12 months service and thus I am not able to take the leave nor do they legally have to pay me for it.

 

My employment contract states ""You will be entitled to 21 days of annual vacation which shall be calculated on a calendar year basis and can be taken after the first year of employment unless with the agreement of the company. Cash will not be paid in lieu of unused leave."

 

There is no wording stating that one cannot take the annual leave accrued before the 12 month mark, if resigning. My employer says this does not matter as Thai Labour Law permits employers to not have to pay out or allow employees to take annual leave accrued before 12 months and if resigning.

 

I've tried to find out anywhere if this is indeed legally true? Can anyone help on this? An official wording stating employees are entitled to pro rata annual leave before 12 months if resigning would be useful. 

 

[Lamkyong]

and can be taken after the first year of employment    seems very clear to me

 

i suggest you bite the bullet    i guess their non to pleased you quit 

[ubonjoe]

Info on labor law can be found here: http://thailawonline.com/en/others/labour-law/rights-and-duties-of-employer-and-employee.html

Quote

* An employee who has worked for an uninterrupted period of 1 year can take the annual holidays of not less than 6 working days in 1 year. 
* An employer and an employee may agree in advance to accumulate and postpone any annual holiday in a year to be included in the following years.

 

[cam501]

thanks for the replies

 

@lamkying -  yes wording is clear in contract, but my query is not about what is in the contract. My query is:

 

There is no wording stating that one cannot take the annual leave accrued before the 12 month mark, if resigning. My employer says this does not matter as Thai Labour Law permits employers to not have to pay out or allow employees to take annual leave accrued before 12 months and if resigning. Is this correct?

 

@ubonjue - the link you provided does not address this issue. 

 

 

[ubonjoe]

5 minutes ago, cam501 said:

@ubonjue - the link you provided does not address this issue. 

It seems to be clear to me that according to the labor protection act you do not accrue holidays until you have worked for a full year. 

[ubonjoe]

A off topic post has been removed.

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

It seems to be clear to me that according to the labor protection act you do not accrue holidays until you have worked for a full year. 

 

This is my understanding also.

 

I'm aware of initial contracts of employment (Thai employer / Thai employee (which under the Thai Labour Law is the same for foreign employees)) stating nothing at all about annual leave, and after passing probation a new permanent contract of employment is issued /signed and now including annual leave regulations, accrual details etc., starting from the date of the new contract after passing probation.  

[Grubster]

Wow I worked with the same contractor for thirty years, not one paid day off.  You quit three months in on a four month probation period and want seven days off paid.  That said everyday is a paid day now.

[Wazza1]

On 16/11/2016 at 6:15 PM, cam501 said:

My employment contract states ""You will be entitled to 21 days of annual vacation which shall be calculated on a calendar year basis and can be taken after the first year of employment unless with the agreement of the company. Cash will not be paid in lieu of unused leave."

 

Well did you read this part of your contract? Pretty sure when it says "can be taken AFTER the first year of employment" means you have to wait a year before you can take it. Also pretty sure where it says "cash will not be paid in lieu of unused leave" means they won't pay you out in cash for unused leave.